


Piercing Blue

by Jinnar



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Because they should be, Characters are allowed to curse in this one, F/F, Hard SF -ish, Rating May Change, Tags will be added, space adventures, space is dark and full of horrors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2020-10-28 02:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20771345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinnar/pseuds/Jinnar
Summary: Pale blue ethereal tendrils coiled in between a myriad of lights, fading into white. The monitor probably enchanted it, twisted the imagine 'till the gargantuan beast stood up softly against the backdrop in all its magnificent beauty.She traced the suddenly surreal lines, sharper than on any picture.Her fingers dug hard in the fabric on her stomach, knuckles going white. Trembling.Who ever thought of it as a horse head clearly had no imagination.She was always the lucky one.Not only got her most ambitious invention built, it warranted her a job on a ship she only dreamed of stepping upon. And just as she thought there wasn't anything more to wish for: an order. Her first long distance flight was for a system so strange, it justified a titan-class ship. Who said dreams didn't come true? Who cares about the little bit about being careful what to wish for...?





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The nebula mentioned is [the Blue Horsehead.](http://annesastronomynews.com/photo-gallery-ii/nebulae-clouds/the-blue-horsehead-nebula-ic-4592-by-robert-gendler/)

She knew it was inadvisable to turn the whole wall into a window, especially on her first flight, but she couldn’t resist.

The view must be gorgeous!

She glimpsed around. Again.

Huge machines rumbled in dark shadows. So low, it wasn’t a sound - more of a vibration. Occasional green lights flared up, showing that all was fine. She was alone with them.

No one would know.

Excitement had her nearly running. Hands damp. She found the panel on the side. Slightly trembling fingers tapped away quickly, navigating the menus.

It wasn’t like there was a real window. The wall was made of screens. Usually they displayed all manner of useful information, but they could be coaxed to show the view from the cameras. As if one could see straight through the hull of the ship. 

Slowly, the deep shadows retreated, chased away by uncountable stars.

She nearly tripped, scrambling hastily to the middle of the room. Silver eyes went wide, taking in the view.

Pale blue ethereal tendrils coiled in between a myriad of lights, fading into white. The monitor enchanted it. Dimmed the light of the stars, amplified the colours, twisted the image 'till the gargantuan beast stood up softly against the backdrop in all its magnificent beauty.

She traced the suddenly surreal lines, sharper than on any picture.

Her fingers dug hard into the fabric at her stomach, knuckles going white. Trembling.

Whoever thought of it as a horse head clearly had no imagination.

A dragon.

That's what she would have called it.

Twin giants danced in its snake-like neck. A piercing eye glowed right under the curve of its brow.

Breath caught in her throat.

It was just her imagination. She knew it. And yet she couldn't shake the feeling of being looked at - looked right through - by the leviathan. Pale blue swallowed all of her vision, the soft glow all encompassing. Burning through her mind, digging into her soul.

Her knees buckled.

She couldn't tear her gaze away.

The maws of infinity opened around her with teeth of brilliantly lit darkness, a throat of eternal nothing behind them.

The mighty ship, so grand and colossal from the perspective of the ground, was suddenly nothing against the amount of emptiness. More space than she ever could comprehend, older than she could ever imagine, looked at her through the eye of a foggy titan.

Sharp pain shot through her legs as she hit the ground, snapping her eyes shut.

White-blue splattering the inside of her lid.

_Breathe._

She gasped for air. Fingers threading through dark auburn, the other hand still clutched into her overalls. An abyss in her stomach, her heart on her tongue. Red lines cut through the ghostly reflection of the screen behind her tightly closed eyes, fine fractures merging into a spider web. Like broken glass. Like pictures of the cosmic microwave background.

Her shoulders trembled. Shallow breaths broken, treacherously close to sobs.

"Are you okay?"

She jerked at the voice. Chilly, stern, a bit concerned. Strangely melodic. Her head snapped up and she nearly winced. Heart lost somewhere in the shimmering darkness behind the hull.

White and soft blue.

The nebula glowed behind her back, throwing tender shadows. The colours so perfectly fitting, she might be the walking embodiment of it.

Silver rose up to meet her eyes.

Now she was certain of it.

Piercing blue rimmed by black and white.

The sky beast watched over her shoulder, coiling around her frame.

Her instructor said once, there was beauty between the stars so grand, it was unbearable.

And under the gaze of the white blue eyes she believed every word of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throw your opinion on the fic at me and make me a happy little nerd!


	2. Weird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all very much for all the comments and kudos on the prologue (that actually was kinda a one-shot but never mind)!
> 
> Special thanks to InsaneJester:  
It’s all your fault and you will suffer.

She didn't know what she found more concerning. The fact that the apparently new mechanic was obviously having a breakdown after disregarding instructions, the look of pure horror on her face as she looked up at her, or that the expression quickly morphed into something akin to awe.

Weiss frowned.

Wide eyes flickered over her face, silver glowing dimly in the cold starlight. Strangely shy, despite the unveiled gawking. Oddly surprised. It reminded her somewhat of a deer. 

A deer, that was blatantly ogling her in full disregard of any manners.

Maybe the word she was searching for was oaf.

The frown deepened.

A retort sat sharp on her tongue. Lingering, since she stepped into the room. Silenced by silver, catching her off guard. She drew breath. There was still stiffness in her shoulders, an edge to her arched eyebrow.

Enough to make the mechanic jerk back even before she opened her mouth, landing on her rear.

Not that it stopped her from still eyeing Weiss.

Teeth worried her bottom lip, the sheepish look of a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar on her face.

Dishevelled dark hair fell back in soft arcs. A stark contrast to the echo of the nebula, reflected by the white ground behind her.

Weiss’ glance dipped.

The overalls were also black - half unzipped, showing the crimson shirt beneath. Sleeves rolled up. Pant legs stuffed in heavy boots.

Were black overalls even allowed?

At least the metal caps were according to safety rules.

And there was the proper snowflake crest embroidered on her chest. Company logo. The name tag beneath, unreadable the way the fabric fell.

Green flashed in the corner of her eye.

She blinked.

Wasn’t she about to say something?

She could swear there was a small smile on the mechanic’s face.

Great. She scared the dolt witless.

Or the view did.

She turned her head.

_ Blue and white. _ The colours of her family splayed across the sky. Blazing stars lighting the path for the golden ones. Beloved by fortune beyond all reasoning.

Once upon a time they were dust miners.

Once upon a time money ruled the world.

Then they invented gravity dust.

Sure enough, a bit of research brought out the other side of the coin. 

Anti-gravity dust.

Unlocking the universe for humanity’s endless greed for more. And with it came contracts. A hand in all programs. First rights to nearly everything. All in exchange for dust able to bend the stubborn rules of reality.

Now money ruled a sizeable chunk of the galaxy, and a state-of-the-art fleet that got eyed suspiciously by all neighbours and the government of humanity alike.

It was necessary.

The unfathomable wealth of the Atlas sector was well known beyond its borders. Trading hubs so rich, they might be built of solid platinum and littered with gems. Routes filled with convoys transporting just about everything.

Not only the hearts of men were devoured by greed.

And of course, there was also their special branch of services. Terraforming. Megastructure construction. Wormhole creation. Natural wormhole stabilisation. 

Especially the last one was in dire need of a fleet. Opening gates to an unknown location wasn't always the greatest of ideas, but it was the only way to access removed regions without having to travel the distance at least once first. The insufferable amount of space still dwarfed all their accomplishments in space flight.

Protection was a part of the service contract. Together with some exclusive rights concerning whatever they might find on the other side.

And about that.

If the dolt was already having a panic attack by just looking at a nebula, what was she going to do when they arrived at their destination?

_ The map was littered in red dots. Hundreds. Thousands. Numbers in neat columns stating the sizes. Gigantic. That shouldn't be possible and yet there couldn't be a mistake. Nothing unconfirmed would warrant mobilizing the nearest titan-class ship in all haste. Just moving it could easily bankrupt a small empire. _

_ She wanted to see. _

_Wanted to see what should be a stretch of nothing being covered in miracles. They could try to stop her. _

Did they even tell her where they were going?

She turned around just as the mechanic was standing up, brushing dust from her pants.

"What are you even doing here?"

Silver eyes snapped back up at her. Now there was no doubt about the existence of the sheepish grin.

"I..." She tapped away over her overalls, eyes flickering to the sides of the room. "Well..." She gestured at herself, then vaguely at the machines. The smile morphed into a nervous grin under the piercing blue staring her down despite the suddenly apparent high difference.

Weiss' special skill.

"No. What is somebody like **you** doing on a ship like ** this**? Surely, they don’t just go around hiring inexperienced imbeciles to stroll around the flagship of the atlesian fleet."

This time the mechanic actually flinched. As if physically hurt by the sharp, cold tone. Weiss was nearly sorry. Nearly.

Suddenly something set in the mechanics jaw. Dark brows knit together into a hurt frown. The fidgeting stopped. Hands curled into fists.

"I constructed the new Javelin."

Softly. Darkly.

"Excuse me?"

Silver fixed on her from under the slightly bowed head.

"The Javelin. I build it." She flickered her hand, pointing up. Up, where nearly the whole belly of the colossus was taken up by one single weapon.

She never saw it in action. Just the blueprints and test results. She wished she could say she had enough imagination to picture what the numbers exactly meant in terms of raw destruction power. Lots. Enough, to strike fear in the rest of the known galaxy. 

Weiss nearly choked on her breath.

Despite wearing the same name and following the same principle the new Javelin was basically a whole new weapon. A different way of building it. Increasing the destructive power in several magnitudes for just a slightly bigger intake. Freshly equipped it made Kronos probably the most powerful ship in all known Milky Way.

What were they even going to fight with that monstrosity?

"You... You are the new engineer."

That certainly explained how she had the clearance.

She couldn't be that old. Even all the modern gen altering didn't erase the effects of time entirely. Besides, there was just something youthful about her. Something in the way she moved. The way, she shrank back under Weiss’ gaze. Something about the glimmering eyes full of awe and wonder. About how easily the frown gave way to a beaming smile. How quickly the steel turned into soft warmth again.

The nearly forgotten irritation was back.

She couldn’t tell what it was about the damn girl, but the way she looked at her made Weiss want to punch her. Desperately.

How disgraceful that would be.

Her nails itched for the soft skin. For stark red steaks that would wipe away the stupid damn grin that made her insides twist and her skin crawl in a way so strange, she couldn’t even tell if it was unpleasant.

Weird. It was weird.

And the staring made her uncomfortable in a peculiar way.

A soft noise drew her attention. A message blinked in the corner of the screen, stopping to be read.

They were in the range of the gates now.

The board computer registered the screen being used for view and suggested to switch to another set of cameras. To look at the tamed wormhole they were heading for.

The, as it turned out, engineer was practically bouncing. A pleading look on her face, lit by childish excitement. How could somebody so smart be so… so… Weiss sighed.

“You are not going to have a mental break down again, are you?” 

Dark hair flew as she shook her head wildly. Red glinting when the dim light fell right. Like embers. The bright grin rivaled the blue giants behind the hull.

Weiss’ lungs felt weird too.

She reached for the panel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The update schedule may be a bit unpredictable since I have exams and also never wrote a multific. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Galactic Wonders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Atlas, Vale and co. are governmental sectors in this, each consisting of multiple stellar systems. So galactic states. :D

She was fine, right?

Right?

Ruby wrinkled her nose. Frankly, she began to wonder what a heart attack might feel like. Her vitals must be a wild mess. A perfect resemblance to her current state, to be honest.

It was strange to look at Weiss Schnee in person. She seemed… Well, alive. 

Like an actual human being, instead of just a porcelain doll, following the etiquette with such a painstaking precision it was downright scary. There was still something rigid about her stance, something guarded to her expression, but the eyes… In all the feeds and pictures the pale blue was ice. Impassive and cold. 

Turned out the media just wasn’t fit to capture the searing fire. 

The eye of the sky dragon stared at her.

She blinked away the unbidden vision, still feeling the imagined gaze on her, making a point in not looking at it. Instead she studied the snowflake taking up all of Weiss’ back as she moved to the panel. Simple, yet intricate. She had seen it a thousand times, wearing her own version on her chest. It was everywhere. Quite literally. So much, she barely noticed it anymore.

It must be bone-crushing.

The weight of an empire bestowed upon slender shoulders.

Mind-blowing. 

The heiress to the Schnee Corp. indeed flesh and bone. Living. Breathing. Yelling. Being vaguely scary despite the compact size. And incredibly beautiful.

She frowned at the last one.

Maybe having the special kind of existential crisis reserved solely for deep space **was** getting to her. 

Slender fingers slid over the panel. The blue faded. Taking away the shadows of dim twilight. Fine features sharper in the glow of the screen. Lips curled in the slightest hint of a smile. A reluctant glim of wonder behind deep black lashes. A delicate scar ran through her eye.

Here they go again. A wild mess. 

Ruby forced herself to look at the screen.

A sphere, shrouded by a ghostly fog rippling around it like waves, the rims glowing, caught between gigantic metal claws. Lights glinted in the wet onyx. Distorted. Like in a curved mirror. Except they weren’t reflections at all.

The hole through reality didn’t look like a hole.

The claws had their own lights. The insides, facing the orb but never touching, dazzling white. Raising it in clear contrast to the backdrop. Red, green and blue littered the outer hull. Warning signals. Ports. Windows. They even had their own fog. Consisting out of countless ships of all sizes and shapes, constantly flowing in between huge defence platforms. 

The three segments of each claw generated a field, forcing the wormhole open and stable. Two halves of a star base build upon the gateway.

Transmitters were hidden somewhere in there. One to receive the signals and send them through the wormhole, the other one to emit received ones. Like a beacon. 

No matter the amount of dust you threw at it, you couldn’t make light go faster than light. Thus, it had to use shortcuts. There even were smaller wormhole relays just for that. But they were incredibly expensive so, communication in space was generally pretty much back to sending letters again.

She should write Yang.

Orange lights flashed overhead. Jump warnings. The sphere grew bigger and bigger. Dark surface perfectly still in deafening silence of space. 

Her nose almost touched the screen now.

She knew there were multiple gateways. Revolving around the centre of the system on different orbits. Leading to different points in space. Moving, like everything else in the universe.

It made her dizzy to merely think about it.

Or maybe it was just the excitement. Too stunned to be antsy, the excess energy had nothing else to do except to crush her lungs.

How could Weiss take it in such stride? She seemed even more relaxed than usual.

Maybe one day Ruby would greet the sight of galactic wonders with the same pleased calm, but for now she craned her neck to look at gigantic machines, clawing open spacetime for them to pass.

* * *

“Please!”

“No.” Calmly. Firmly.

The pancake parted under the precise cut of the knife. Syrup dripping.

She felt ill and starving at the same time.

“Why not? I’m an engineering officer, am I not?” She pointed at the emblem on her shoulder. Crimson spilling like blood on fresh snow. The other hand still curled around her untouched cup. The heat against her palms, soothing.

“If you can’t access it on your own, I’m not meant to tell you.”

She huffed exasperated. Feverish glinting silver landed on the third person at the table, who was watching the stack of pancakes on the pilot’s plate with mischief. Her own was already empty. 

“What? Don’t look at me like that, he wouldn’t tell me either. Way too afraid of the commander, right Ren?” She grinned, all teeth and tease.

Nothing changed on his face. The plate got moved a little bit further away from the gunner, though.

Ruby dropped her head on the canteen table.

So that was pointless then. Everyone feared the commander. 

_Slate-blue eyes looking right through skin._

The first time they met, she barely managed to introduce herself, fumbling for words so hard, she thought the commander would throw her right off the ship. That didn’t happen, but the severe gaze in the stern face had scarred her for life.

Were the Schnee’s scary by default or was it just the power they wielded? A regal aura of untouchability crushing down like lead.

“Don’t take it so hard, Rubes. You’ll find out soon enough.” 

“We are still three jumps away!”

“A proper uniform **and** you dropped some coffee in your milk flavoured sugar? Admit it, the apocalypse is near and we're all gonna die, aren’t we?”

There was quip in the warm tone. A curl to the syllables. Like a smile. She turned her head a little bit to peek at Jaune as he sat down next to her. Plate loaded with food. She turned away again.

“**I** sure will!” She would. Certainly. Any minute now “And Matty made me. Something about… Something. I didn’t listen to be honest. Why does everything have to be stark white on this damn ship?” She groaned.

“It **does** look strange on you.” Based on the sound, the interjection earned Nora a kick under the table. 

Ruby sighed. 

Nora was right. It was also way too stiff and uncomfortable for her taste. The feeling of discomfort worsened the more she diverged from the proper rigid posture. There was no use. She sat up again. The muscles in her back hurt. 

Tired. 

So tired. 

At least there were red accents. 

Sometimes.

“Because nearly everything owned by the Schnee’s is white. Why didn’t you join the regular fleet? Aren’t you from Vale?” Words barely recognizable behind all the food that was stuffed in Jaune’s mouth. 

“My sister. SDC does a lot more exploration missions and she likes adventures.” Also Ruby was fairly positive she had a huge crush on the science officer. “I didn’t want to be too far away.”

Not that it mattered.

She looked down at the cup.

Everything was far away.

“Can you at least tell me whether or not there is something with natural gravity in there?”  
She asked quietly.

That was a mistake. 

Ren’s eyes went widened a bit. Nora’s advances on his pancakes halted. She could feel Jaune staring at her. Bacon forgotten half way to his mouth.

“Ruby are you- ?”

Aw, damn. 

Abort mission! Abort mission!

“I’m fine. It’s just… We are far from home.”

Or not. Because on the universal scale even thousands of light years were practically not even leaving the couch. 

Her stomach twisted uncomfortably, inching closer to the edge of the abyss. It seemed so easy on the ground. So exciting. A big adventure. Of course she could deal with the incomprehensible widths of virtually nothing, why would she not? 

The fact that gravity was a lie and air had to be kept in by walls sure did put things in perspective.

Just homesick. Nothing about it. Play it cool. Play it cool!

She grinned sheepishly. 

Hesitantly, Ren smiled. “Sure.”

She perked up, “And a sun? Or maybe two? That would be awesome!”

The smile widened. Nora slowly dragged a pancake towards her plate, watching Ren carefully.

Only Jaune was not convinced. She could feel his eyes on her. It made her skin crawl.

“Let’s say you will not be disappointed.”

Ruby’s eyebrow arched. 

Nora bit down on the pancake. 

What was that supposed to mean?

* * *

She was not fine.

The surface cold, as she leaned the back of her head against it, pressing her knees closer to her body, gasping for air with closed eyes.

The ship was alive around her. Rumbling softly. Alloy bones hidden away in the walls. Veins carrying oxygen wound in between. And further out, outside the iridescent skin, outside the invisible shields, the black velvet of emptiness. Ever stretching. Multiplying. Crushing her with its vast nothing, without any point of reference. Without any comprehensible scale.

How insignificant they were for all their glory. Monumental empires barely dots on maps. All their tremendous creations hardly even specks of dust. 

Fingernails dug into her arm.

What’s a sun to the black heart of the Milky Way? 

What is the Milky Way to the eye of the universe?

Heart fluttering against her chest. Undefined fear coiling around her spine. 

It never bothered her before. So why… 

She exhaled softly. 

It was fine.

Fine.

Just the terrifying beauty of everything.

She stood up. Hands trembling. The crisp white of the uniform nearly glowing.

Maybe she could check if somebody needed help?

Sleep eluded her anyway.

The door slid open soundlessly, letting her step into the brightly lit aisle. 

Night and day didn’t exist here. Just shifts. 

She jumped as something flashed in the corner of her eye. Right in time to avoid a crash with someone walking down the corridor, gaze fixed on a scroll, suddenly startling at the movement. 

Rage in pale blue eyes. 

Ruby cringed inwardly. 

Of course.

Of course, it would be just her luck to run into Weiss Schnee right now.

“What the hell are you doing here?!”

Her mind went blank.

“Yeah, what the hell am I doing right in front of my living quarters. Can’t imagine what I could be wanting here,” she deadpanned, remains of a slight tremor in her voice.

There was a moment of blissful ignorance before she regretted everything, including being born.

How to lose your job? 

Step 1: Talk back to the sister of your boss, who is kinda also your boss and more or less owns the planet you are technically living on alongside the corresponding star system.

Right. 

Ruby winced.

That’s why Schnees were so intimidating.

She probably should just shut up and never speak again.

Now.

Surprisingly, Weiss wasn’t yelling at her. Yet. She seemed astonished, if anything. Maybe she wasn’t used to being talked to like that?

It didn’t last long.

Angry. Definitely very angry. 

“I haven’t slept in three days.” Ruby added quickly. 

Now it was bewildered. 

She really wasn’t sure whether the confession made it better or worse. 

It was funny how many emotions flashed over Weiss’ face, though. All the media coverage and Ruby never saw any of those. Surprise. Anger. Concern. Anything that wasn’t serious politeness, really. Even the smiles felt… unnatural on the scroll. Not this. Not now. Earnest. Alive.

“Why?”

Ruby snapped out of it. Why what? What where they just talking about?

She felt like the main portion of her brain shut down several hours ago, leaving only cottony static. It was upon her emergency grey matter now to struggle with stopping Ruby from saying anything that certainly would get her shoved out of the airlock and trying to understand the question at the same time.

Oh, yeah.

Fuck.

Think quick!

“I… uh… I don’t like… The walls?”

“Is this a question?”

“No?”

For a moment Ruby thought Weiss might turn around and walk away. Quickly. Which probably was the preferable option at this point. Unfortunately, she just stared at her instead. Intensely. Making Ruby shift uncomfortably.

She sighed in defeat.

“Being alone with nothing to do makes me anxious.”

The look on Weiss’ face practically screamed ‘why am I the one dealing with this?’ A sharp edge to her jaw. The engineer looked away, fidgeting randomly. The airlock sounded not all that bad of an option right now. Except she was trying to steer clear of all the nothing waiting behind it.

“Follow me.”

Silver eyes snapped up instantly. 

Still composed. Still stiff. Still proper. An air of dignity and arrogance. But the ire in the pale blue was gone. The strictness, lacking an edge. Almost gentle. 

Ruby followed.

* * *

They were standing in front of a wall.

Ruby squinted at it. 

Nope, a wall.

She tried to remember the blueprint again. 

According to the sudden weight on her, they must be near the forcefield generator. 

She’d seen it once before. A core of dust encapsulated by iron, two stories high. Metal gangplanks running in circles around it for workers to reach.

It regulated gravity on board. Twisting the field to point always perpendicular to the ground, keeping the force in a fixed range. Even when the ship was accelerating or manoeuvring. Only in close proximity gravity increased noticeably. A tiny flaw.

It was remarkably soothing.

Weiss touched the wall. Light lit up under her hand. A thin black line ran through eternal white, outlining something akin to a door. Air hissed, as the panel slid forward smoothly, giving way to a room. Overhead lights flaring up to life.

Low ceiling, wires running in thick lines over the walls. Cold, stale air. A maintenance room. 

She frowned as Weiss gestured for her to step in, but obeyed. Her bones tugging even harder on her. 

They must be straight over the generator. So why… 

The frown gave way to a smile.

Of course.

The generator was always closely monitored but the maintenance rooms were supposed to stay locked most of the time. Nobody would look in here. 

Actually, that was a bit concerning.

She turned around. 

The door closed behind Weiss. Calm composure on her face.

Very concerning.

“Lie down.”

Wait, what?

Piercing blue eyes stared her down. The heiress was obviously not intent on repeating herself. 

A moment passed.

In fact, Ruby didn’t care anymore. The floor seemed more appealing anyway.

The hard deck soothed the pain in her spine. The cold ushering away the heat in her neck, making her relax with a huff. Gravity tugged at her, pulled her closer. Like a heavy blanket. Safe and sound. She closed her eyes, a pleasant nothing filling her head. The tiredness overwhelming.

A high heel tip burrowed in her ribs. Gently. Tickling.

“Don’t fall asleep. You’ll freeze.”

She grumbled, eyes still closed, grasping for it. Smooth and warm. “Just a little bit!”

“No.”

Ruby pressed down before the shoe could find a new target in her side, “Fine! I’m not sleeping!”

She could feel the movement, as Weiss crouched down beside her. Sighing quietly. 

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you look.”

The annoyance would sound way more sincere, if there wasn’t a touch of concern. If she wouldn’t speak so softly. The cramped room not fit for loud noises. 

Ruby chuckled, “I’m fairly certain there isn’t really a connection. But if there were, the damage was probably done before you found me anyway. I don’t regret it. The nebula was breathtaking and the wormhole… It was gorgeous!”

“Great. Our engineer is a dunce who might or might not blow us all into space on accounts of exhaustion because she enjoys glaring at things that scare her out of her wits.”

The sarcasm didn’t cut either. Something hidden underneath. Something warm. Almost like fondness.

Perhaps she hallucinated. Perhaps her hand didn’t still rest on the white leather.

“It didn’t scare me out of my wits!” She pouted. “It’s not about the stuff. Having something that big around actually helps. It’s about what’s in between. The distance… It’s just… Just a lot more space than I’m used to.”

“Sure. A lot space in space,” Weiss teased. Ruby couldn’t help but smile wider.

“Aw, don’t give me that. How did **your** first flight go?” She cracked an eye open, turning her head to look at Weiss. There was something distant to her expression. Head propped up with the left hand, slender fingers touching soft lips. The right one draped lazily around her knees, tightly together. Her dress cascades of white around her. 

How did she still look so elegant and proper sitting like that?

The silence stretched for a moment before she finally spoke, quietly, nearly whispering, “I was born on a ship. And to be honest, I enjoy them far more than any planet, moon or station. Enjoy being far away from anything that can chain me down. There is freedom up here.”

There was a strange weight to it. As if she would talk about something else, hidden behind the obvious. 

Everything true about Weiss seemed to be hidden behind something. 

Never ending walls Ruby kept accidentally falling behind. Not that she complained. It was fascinating. She watched her, both eyes open, till she cleared her throat. A sharpness returning to pale blue.

“Anyway, if you liked the gateway, you will certainly love where we are going.”

If that was meant to stop her from thinking about what Weiss just said, it was absolutely working. Excitement flared in her chest, “Yeah?“

Why was everyone so mysterious about their destination? 

“Yeah.” Soft lips curled up in a barely noticeable half smile. “And if we manage to actually get there without you dying of exhaustion or the ship falling apart, I might even ask my sister to allow you on the bridge.”

Ruby nearly jumped up. The weight of tiredness and relentless gravity forgotten. Her eyes went wide. The bridge! Oh, she would love that! The grip on the leather tightened.

“Promise?” 

It twisted again under her fingers and vanished. The heiress stood up and stepped away, “Promise.” The small, lopsided smile overshadowing the brightest stars. A ridiculously long, simple braid swaying behind her as she went, “Don’t fall asleep, Ruby.”

The panel clicked shut, leaving her alone.

Slowly she looked back at the ceiling.

Weiss Schnee knew her name?

* * *

Ruby bounced at the balls of her feet.

She wasn’t dead. The ship was in one piece. The orange light was signalling their arrival at the final gateway. Time to collect what was promised.

It might have taken her a fair share of time spent in claustrophobic maintenance rooms around the forcefield generator and a talk with Jaune, who lost all his professionalism and dropped an expensive piece of diagnosing tech as she mentioned why she was finally admitting to how she felt. 

And she didn’t even mention half the story. Just being talked to by Weiss was apparently baffling enough. 

And, to be honest, it was.

As baffling as the fact that she actually gestured her to follow. 

Not until after she rolled her eyes profoundly of course, but still. Ruby was going to the bridge! She would have run if she could, but that would probably annoy Weiss even more than her grin apparently did, so she kept in stride, watching her walk perfectly sure-footed in heels that would have broken Ruby’s ankles in seconds. 

Sorcery. 

It could have been only minutes, but it felt like an eternity ‘till they finally arrived. 

The doors of the elevator slid gracefully aside. 

Stark white and pitch black.

The curved mock mirror of the gateway took nearly all the extensive window. 

Screens embedded in white panels neatly packed with all kinds of data, meticulously monitored by officers.

She could see Ren’s dark head at the helm. Calmly guiding the titan to the wormhole.

Goosebumps ran down her spine, making her flinch.

Somebody was watching her.

Oh, right.

She swallowed, throat suddenly dry.

The Commander was standing in the middle of the bridge. Arms behind her back, snow white hair high in a bun, the uniform immaculate.

Weiss moved next to her and the gaze finally shifted. Ruby exhaled the breath she didn’t know she was holding, watching in awe as small wrinkles sprang to life around frosty blue eyes. Hints of a smile the commander wouldn’t issue on duty. And what was equally remarkable: Weiss beamed back at her. 

The engineer nearly choked in disbelieve. 

The flashing stopped, the orange light permanent, dragging her attention away from the sisters and back to the gateway. 

She took a step into the room.

The ship dived into black.

* * *

Light flooded the bridge for a brief moment before the screen adjusted. Followed by stunned silence.

The window was taken up by a megastructure. 

Five ring worlds revolving in intricate patterns around a regular dodecahedron, emitting rays of bound light, aimed at sprawling collectors, that split and send it back to the rings. 

Beautiful.

Broken.

Three of the rings – fractured. Missing huge chunks. A deep gash run through the side of the dodecahedron, spewing brilliant light. Scorching the rings.

At first, she thought it to be some kind of a Dyson Sphere but then it hit her. 

Mirrors.

The pentagons were colossal mirrors.

Encapsulating a spinning black hole.

Made to guide electromagnetic waves through its ergosphere, accelerating them again and again, increasing their power exponentially. The openings extracting the excess energy.

Every acceleration slowed the black hole down a little, but the process was so slow, the power output was practically infinite. 

Her jaw dropped.

Theory made reality.

A black hole bomb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the scenes: *squinting at the outline* I will die before I fish all of this.
> 
> What do you think?


	4. Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me only forever and a little bit but here we are again!
> 
> Also: Huge thanks to Snow who took it upon herself to hunt down remaining errors, suffered through all the incomplete sentences to right the grammar, resolved the dialog tag mess and made a lot of suggestions how to make things sound better and/or less confusing! You are my hero! :D

A new red dot emerged from the darkness, joining thousands of its siblings on the map. A label hovered beside it, declaring the new name.

Another one.

Gold flickered to the announcement feed. The voice of the science ship armada. Every important new discovery would go on here. Usually. She had the filter set for updates on the systems location.

Nothing.

They were still utterly lost.

Even with simulations accounting for different ages they didn’t find any known stars. Or galaxies. Or anything. Just never seen skies all around them.

They might be even further away from home than expected.

She looked back at the map. One of the dots was orange. The wormhole they came through. The label bore a proud one in its name.

The first of many.

3571, stated a count in the corner.

3571 red dots littering the darkness. 3571 wormholes in one system. The number growing.

The new entry to the data stated that the recent addition was only some hundred kilometres across. 

‘Only’

Her ears twitched unsettled. It shouldn’t be ‘only,’ but it was. Number 522 was so big, you could easily push a small planet through.

Wormholes like that weren’t supposed to exist.

Weren’t supposed to follow their long dead star on its journey through space. Frozen in place.

The whole system looked like a warped version of a natural one.

Silent and dark.

Or it was, until somebody brought the long-gone centre back to life with metal and boundless arrogance.

Blazing light cutting, screaming through tranquil black.

They paid the price for it.

Their rings broken, their revived star bleeding white.

And yet, she was in awe.

How high was the probability, that in all the nothing they would stumble upon this by sheer accident?

She reached for the snowflake on her chest.

The lucky ones.

A long, long time ago her ancestor didn’t know snow.

A long, long time ago ships came down bearing banners embroidered with alien beauty.

They brought white.

Ash.

Flakes, too ugly for the pennants, falling from the skies like snow. Dissolving in rivers of red. Muddying faces, covered in tears.

Long, long time ago the lucky ones crushed her ancestors, dragged them to slavery and now…

And now she was the lucky one.

The snowflake crest a branding iron against her chest.

The centre of the map was green, swarmed by tiny orange triangles of construction ships. Estimating the damage, securing the structure. Mirrors of this size were already a wonder in itself, it would be a shame to lose them to the endless hunger of the black.

Blue ones mingled with them. Science ships. They were everywhere. Scanning, probing, exploring. Spreading in a chaotic pattern.

Unlike the white bunch. Formations moving in strict order. The SDC fleet securing the system.

Close to the centre there was another dot in the same colour. The golden arrow of their estimated location made its way towards it.

There was always a price to pay.

For arrogance.

And for dreams.

* * *

The computer chirped and blue eyes skimmed eagerly over the output.

“And the scans say… “ the cheerful tone fell, filling with annoyance, “nothing.”

“So, the blob of doom doesn’t want to talk to us?” A kick sent his chair spinning, the rims of the shirt flew open.

The attire definitely violated the dress code.

She didn’t mind too much. Away from the prying eyes of those not loyal to her, she cared only so much for SDC regulations. Especially if they concerned things that didn’t hurt anything but - as of late - Neptune’s already fragile concentration.

Not a very surprising turn of events.

A smile hid in gold as she looked up from her officers to the lazily rotating construction, lovingly denoted blob of doom.

Dull black faces swallowed light, rendered it shapeless, barely visible against the backdrop of stars. 

Granted, it was indeed hard to tell what it was.

The computer made a model from distance measurements. 

Turned out, it was an icosahedron.

Somebody **really** liked platonic shapes it seemed.

“Yeah. It’s built of something funny that blocks us from looking inside. Or it interferes somehow. It’s kinda hard to tell from nothing.” Neptune sighed.

Blake wasn’t listening.

There were steps down the aisle.

One of her ears turned towards them. Slowly rotating as they made their way to the bridge.

Sure. Without haste. Heavy military boots.

Excitement and anxiety mixed into something explosive. Dynamite. Annoyance its short fuse.

Annoyance about how all her concentration instantly zeroed on the sound.

Annoyance about the feeling in her chest. Warm. Spreading.

Annoyance about how scared she was.

Scared that, if she looked back and saw this smile again – this soft, bright smile – she might die.

Or steal the ship and run.

Run for the wild, unknown stars, abducting the dawn.

To hell with the galaxy.

Screw all their plans.

Adam can go shove it.

If only…

The door behind her slid open and her ear snapped forward. The posture relaxed, casually leaning against the desk. As if she didn’t notice. As if all her attention was on the strange construction.

She really needed to get a grip.

Instead she turned to look at the newcomer, slowly levelling with her.

And there it was.

The smile.

Like the first of the sun after a long night.

Chasing away the cold of morning.

Light caught in the golden mane, making it nearly glow. Soft curls a wild mess.

And the eyes…

She never figured out what it was about them.

They made her heart hurt pleasantly.

She would have clawed it out, if she could.

Instead she smiled.

So fine, it was barely noticeable and yet Yang’s smile split into a radiating grin.

Making the lilac glim with mirth.

Something playful hiding beneath.

Something tender.

Something warm.

She could have cried and wouldn’t know why.

Old scars felt like wounds again. Open and bleeding away hidden pain.

Nothing showed on her face.

No ripples on pools of gold.

No tensed muscles.

No posture shifts.

She learned long ago how to hide everything inside herself.

Unfortunately, the sun insisted on throwing light at shadows.

Yang pulled herself up, took a seat on the desk right beside her, feet dangling.

She tossed her head to get her hair out of her face and Blake stopped breathing for a second.

Knowing what would happen if she’d breathed in.

There was only losing this battle.

Air filled her lungs.

She was so done for, it was ridiculous.

“So what exactly **do** you propose?”

Sun’s sudden outburst broke the spell. Both looked back at the arguing boys.

“I don’t know! Go down there and look? Isn’t that what you are here for?”

“Actually, it’s to keep Blakes precious brain safe from any harm on expeditions.” Sun pointed his thumb back at their commander.

“So go keep her brain from the headache about what the hell that is!”

“They do realise you are still here, right?” Yang leaned closer to her, clearly amused. 

Blakes heart stopped.

God damn it.

“Nobody is protecting their brain on expeditions, I fear. Truly tragic.” She smiled a little bit wider as Yang snorted, finally getting them some attention.

“Oh, hey there.” Sun grinned and waved. Neptune smiled tensely. 

The blob of doom mystery clearly made him nervous.

“What do you say? About going down?”

All eyes turned to her.

It was dangerous.

An alien ruin made of strange metal in a system with a thousand wormholes following around a black hole bomb.

Intriguing.

“Look for a way to enter.”

* * *

Numbers ran over the side of her helmet’s glass.

There was air on the station.

Unbreathable.

Stronger gravitation, thinner atmosphere. No lights. At least none that would automatically spring to life. Also, no air circulation.

The main generator was probably dead. Or off.

Why?

No severe damage to the hull. Or anything, so far. No bodies. Just cold maze-like aisles. Sharp lines seemed predominant. The walls were out of the same deep black material.

She touched it carefully.

Spacesuit gloves fitting like a second skin.

Smooth.

The temperature measurement flashed up.

Cold.

She rapped her knuckles against it.

Nothing.

Steps didn’t make a sound either.

Not even the heavy armoured boots of the security team.

The silence had something reverent about it.

Daunting.

Her ears twitched, unseen by everyone else. Gold slid to the side.

Searching.

The security crew could barely be told apart in their heavy armoured space suits. Securing what seemed to be an empty spaceship hangar. Rifles with mounted flashlights piercing the darkness in pitch black corridors where the big projectors couldn’t reach. Luring. Waiting. As if any minute it would take a breath.

And yet…

She carried a huge metal crate on her shoulder, like it was nothing. Reinforced plates outlining her back. A rifle strapped across it. Pistol at her thigh. Long scabbard at the small of her back.

It reminded Blake of heros in those retro games Illia showed her once.

A little bit.

The crate landed soundlessly on the ground.

Not even a vibration.

It was disturbing.

Nonsense.

There was nothing there but cold walls and mute darkness.

They had sent scouting bots ahead.

Little robots about the size of her hand, equipped with cameras and sensors.

They swarmed the passages in thousands. Mapping. Searching. Scanning.

Carefully monitored remainders of the old AI. Forbidden after the uprising.

Turned out, machines didn’t want to be slaves either.

She honestly didn’t know where the surprise in that was.

Sooner or later there was always an uprising.

And there was always blood.

Because that’s what peace was forged out of.

Bones and fire.

She touched the emblem on her chest. Again. Saw masks of the old gods behind her closed eyes.

Blood and teeth and shadows.

There was always a price.

A sacrifice.

The sound of Yangs boots kicking against metal snapped her out of her thoughts.

The gold melted.

“You know how much that thing costs, right?”

Her soft voice still too loud for the unnatural silence, finger trailing feather light along the edge of the reinforced shoulder plate.

Yang wouldn’t feel it.

There was something wrong with it.

A dragon coiled around the engraved snowflake. Sharp claws digging deep into delicate grooves.

That was new.

She looked up.

There must have been a sheepish smile behind the dark metal. Quiet apologies muffled by it.

The crate unfolded in front of them.

The apparatus clicked softly, metal snapping together in perfect fluidity.

The presence of the silent station seemed to loom over them.

Unnerving.

Sun shuffled uncomfortably next to one of the doors.

Nobody was talking.

Even the scientist, always so keen on new discoveries, eyed the walls with underlying suspicion. Moving through the empty hall with hesitant caution.

The scanner made a sound. The panel glowed in blue.

Maybe the blob of doom would talk to them now.

She pressed a button.

A white pulse ran along the isles. Twisting around the corners. Followed by another one. And another one.

Shadows suddenly alive.

Reminding her of days long gone.

She wished she could step away from the light.

There was a map on her scroll. Composed out of scout-bots’ reports.

A labyrinth.

Twisting, coiling, folding on itself.

She dragged her fingers over the panel, changing the view.

Several huge, blank spaces.

One of them was bound to be interesting.

She split her team in three.

* * *

The comm sprang to life at her ear, carrying Neptune’s excited voice.

“The Kronos is here! Arrived about 10 minutes ago.”

Great.

They were under the direct command of a Schnee now.

Her ears struggled against the helmet.

She didn’t even notice that she was trying to lie them back against her head.

Inconveniences.

Speaking of which.

The door was still struggling against all their advances.

They barely found it to begin with. Light swallowing black smoothing out all edges.

And very fine edges at that.

Maybe some secrets were just not for them to know.

Maybe they should just blast it open.

The station made her nervous.

There was no way around admitting that.

The comm clicked again. Local this time.

“Heeeey! The room you sent us to? I think we found something!” Sun chirped. “It’s some kind of machinery? And huuuuge! Might be the generator. I’m honestly not sure, but it glows? Oh wait, is this a button?”

Mistakes.

She made mistakes.

Naming Sun the head of one of the groups for example.

There wasn’t time for anything else but this thought before the lights flashed to life.

White and red.

Ethereal glow running over black walls, painting them in complicated patterns, outlining the doors.

So far, so good.

A deep rumbling shook the floor. Made the walls vibrate.

Shadows coiled in an entrancing dance with the lights.

So far, so bad.

The door snapped open, giving way into what seemed to be a huge room.

At least that.

Yang peeked around the corner. Checking.

The clicking of the comm started to annoy her.

“Hey doc.“ Neptunes voice sounded tense again. Cautious. Nervous. “What the **hell** was that?”

Fuck.

“I.. uh.. Might have found the main generator?” Sun chimed in. Blake sighed.

“We are on it.”

“Great, great. Because my money is on Kronos calling to ask about that pretty damn soon.”

Fuck squared.

Yang gave a hand sign. She followed the rest of the team inside.

Turned out the ‘room’ wasn’t really a room. The door opened onto a runway in the middle of a gigantic sphere, which already was strange in itself. The builders clearly favoured edges.

There was a hole in its middle, something hovering in its mid.

Like a shard of darkness.

Milky white twisting inside when light hit it just right.

Anti-gravity dust.

Tons of it.

It didn’t come in crystals.

And yet here it was. 

Heartpiece of a mountain, hovering in thin air.

A spider web of dark lines latching onto it.

Making it glow faintly in a steady rhythmus.

She glanced at the status screen. 

The scanner didn’t find out what the black material was.

Concerning.

_Knack._

“You should see that.” Naptune’s voice suddenly calm.

Well, didn’t **that** sound reassuring.

She tapped on the message on her scroll.

It was the map from the ship.

All wormholes glowing.

Activity.

Fuck cubed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? :D


End file.
